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A 'maker' charter school? More study is needed

Could West Michigan be the site of the nation's first elementary or high school based on the "maker movement" — the trend that encourages people to marry the latest technology with traditional skills to physically build projects?

Perhaps, given that Mr. Maker himself — Dale Dougherty, founder, president and CEO of Sebastopol, Calif.-based Maker Media Inc. — and Gene Eidelman, president of the New York City-based charter school operator Mosaica Education Inc., have discussed the idea of how such a school might operate in metro Grand Rapids.

At Eidelman's suggestion, Dougherty said, he's considering a visit to Grand Rapids in late February or early March to gauge community interest in launching a public school built on the maker movement.

Rob Kimball, deputy director of the Charter Schools Office at Grand Valley State University, said he is working with Maker Media's staff to organize a venue for Dougherty to meet with inventors, local makers and others to gauge interest and show a new documentary, "Maker," that examines the movement. Maker Media publishes Make magazine and organized Maker Faire Detroit, held annually at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. This year's Maker Faire is July 26-27.

Dougherty emphasized that the idea of K-12 education with a maker emphasis is far from even the preliminary proposal stage.

"I'm getting some requests from a number of people who say they want to start something, but it's not clear what they want to start," said Dougherty, who first visited Grand Rapids in 2010 to raise the profile of Maker Faire Detroit.

"I think I get the idea of a maker school, but no one has really defined what that is. And because it is not well-defined, it takes significant effort to build curriculum."

Without a well-defined curriculum and mission, a charter public school might "only pay lip service to making but focus on traditional curriculum," which is outside his area of interest, Dougherty said.

Eidelman said he suggested a maker-themed school because he is familiar with the Grand Rapids area and his company already operates charter schools in Michigan. Mosaica Education operates eight charters in the state, including a high school, middle school and two elementary schools in Muskegon Heights. Nationally, it serves more than 11,000 students in eight states and the District of Columbia.

Kimball said Grand Valley is intrigued by the idea and might want to act as the organization to grant a charter to community stakeholders who incorporate as a nonprofit board to launch such a school. In such a case, GVSU would issue the charter and the board would contract with a service provider, such as Mosaica Education.

GVSU then would measure the performance of the school in relation to the school district in which it resides.